Improvement in coffins



Improvement in Coffins.

NG. 2,QL.3 Pa-ented Dec.19,187.

UNITED STATES MICHAEL M. HERSMAN, OF DELAVAN, ILLDIOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN COFFINS.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 121,943, dated December19, 1871. v

To all lwhom it may concern:

Be it known that LMICHAEL M. HERsMAN, of the town of Delavan, in thecounty of Tazewell and in the State of Illinois, have invented anImproved Burial-Gase and Casket 5 and do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof', referencebeing had to the annexed drawing making a part of this specification, inwhich like letters of reference refer to like parts, and in which-Figure 1 represents a longitudinal vertical section through the center 5Fig. 2, side elevation;

- Fig. 3, perspective view of burial-case and inclosing wooden casket;Fig. 4, a vertical cross-section of the metallic case before sealed;Fig. 5, vertical cross-section of case and casket, with the edge c chammered or f'used down or sealed.

The nature of my invention consists in constructing soft-metal coffmswith a recess into which the edge of the cover fits, and having a raisedrim or wall running around the exterior of said recess, which may behammered down or fused over the line of union of the two parts.

A represents the lower case, composed of one piece of metal having acontinuous recess, a., around the inner edge of the sides or edge c ofthe case to receive the iiange or edge b of the cover B. The edge c is athin'vertical wall or rim, which runs entirely around the edge of therecess a, and projects one-fourth of an inch above the edge of the coverwhen the latter is laid into the recess u., but is of no great width,but merely wide enough to furnish metal enough to effect the properjunction of the two parts, as presently described. Type-metal, or acombina tion of tin, lead, bismuth, or antimony, or either of them orsimilar metals, may compose the case or cover. B, the cover having aglass or transparent window, d, hermetically sealed around its edges.The cover is of the same material as the case A, and has a ange orhorizontal rim, b, running round its lower edge, and designed to fitinto the recess a of the case A of a less depth than that of the recesse. G D the inclosing wooden casket and cover, designed to be screwedtogether to retain the ease A B, and to receive the handles and otherouter trimmings.

The operation of this invention is as follows: The two parts A B arereadily sealed air-tight, when the cover B is laid in the recess ct ofthe case A by hammering the malleable raised rim c, which encircles therecess a and the iiange b, down onto the latter, (1),) or otherwise, byfusing the rim c down into the joint with a solderingiron, hermeticallyclosing the same and uniting the two parts.

The object of the malleable edge or an easilyfusible edge, c, istwofold: First, to temporarily seal the case and retain the contentsintact-z'. e., in case the same may be required to bereopened simply byrunning a chisel around and under the prostrate edge and re-erecting itso as to liberate the flange b of the cover. Second, to afterward permita second and final closing and sealing of the case by permanently fusingor melting down the rim c upon the joint and edge of the cover. Plasterof Paris or other cement may be first inserted between the recess a andthe flange b. The wooden case C D is finally employed to inclose thecase and to receive the handles and other exterior trimmings.

What I claim as my invention is An interior soft-metal coffin, A, withshoulder or recess a for the reception of the lid B, and a soft fusiblemetal iiange, c, for turning down over said edge.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing burialcase and casket I havehereunto set my hand this 11th day of October, A. D. 1871.

MICHAEL M. HERSMAN.

Witnesses WM. J ACK,

